


I Think I'm Catching Feelings

by fangirlingbooknerd



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Friends With Benefits, Friends With Benefits To Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, awkward nursey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 05:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19266940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlingbooknerd/pseuds/fangirlingbooknerd
Summary: Nursey and Dex are undeniably attracted to each other, but can't seem to get along. They find an arrangement that works for them: casual hookups. However, when they both realize that they have feelings for the other, they realize that casual hookups might not be the best solution.(a companion piece to my work "from the first glance" but you DO NOT have to read that in order to understand this one! i made sure it can be read as a standalone one shot!)





	I Think I'm Catching Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from sex by EDEN. 
> 
> First half focuses on Dex's feelings, second half on Nursey's. 
> 
> This is rated T but it is a more mature of side of T for the first scene only (fourth paragraph to first story break). If you think it needs to be bumped up to M let me know :) hope you like it!

Nursey was practically swooning at the first sight of Dex at Bitty’s Bakery, so he assumed their first date would be great. Dex had a massive crush on Nursey ever since he saw the pictures of him in the article (which even Dex had to admit, was really well written). He assumed that Nursey was a man of great talent, and he was clearly into Dex, so he assumed that their first date would go great.

 

To say that Nursey and Dex’s first date didn’t go well was an understatement. Turns out the two don’t get along. However, what they did after their first date was spectacular for both.

 

Dex picked up Nursey (Nursey can’t drive, something that Dex spent plenty of time mocking him for), which meant that Dex had to drop him off. When Nursey invited him in, surely more out of politeness than anything else, Dex agreed, but only so he could use the restroom. 

 

Dex fully intended to leave after peeing, but when he came back out and saw Nursey sprawled out on the couch, he couldn’t help himself. He plopped himself into Nursey’s lap and kissed him. He was worried that Nursey would pull away, push him off, but instead he tugged Dex closer, responded with enthusiasm. When Nursey finally pulled back to breathe, Dex went straight for his neck. If this is his one chance with the human sculpture that is Derek Nurse, he is going to make the most of it, making sure that Nursey will not forget what happened when he wakes the next morning. 

 

Nursey groans, throwing his head back, giving Dex free access to his neck. He grinds up, letting Dex know how much he’s enjoyed this make out session so far. Now it’s Dex’s turn to groan. He pulls back for a second, causing Nursey to open his eyes in worry, but it’s just to undo the belt he has on over his best pair of slacks. His loafers got lost somewhere along the way. 

 

Before he undoes his zipper, he checks in with Nursey. “You’re down for this right?”

 

“I am so, SO down for this.”  


“Okay good,” he says, diving back in for another kiss. 

 

This time it’s Nursey that breaks it. “Do you, ah Dex stop with the neck for just a second I can’t think straight.”

 

Dex pulls back, smiling. “Was that a gay joke?”

 

Nursey snorts, “Not intentionally. I was gonna ask if you wanted to move this to my bedroom.”

 

“Yes, yes. That’s the first good idea you’ve had all night.” Dex can’t resist riling Nursey up. He loves that he’s got Nursey so undone already, but wants more, he wants to see no chill Nursey in all of its glory. 

 

The two stumble back to the bedroom, lost in each other. 

 

_X_

 

Dex wakes up the morning in an unfamiliar room to the sun streaming in through a huge window facing the bed. He rubs his eyes, trying to remember where he is. He looks to his left, seeing Nursey, blushing as the memories of last night come rushing back to him. The sounds Nursey made, the sounds he made, the sweet fire of skin on skin. It makes him yearn for a round two, but he knows that there’s no way that Nursey will go out with him again. The two got so out of hand at the restaurant that the manager came over to ask them to leave. 

 

Dex sighs, pushing himself out of bed as quietly as possible. Nursey’s hardwood floors creak beneath his feet anyway, waking Nursey. “Sorry, I’m just trying to get my stuff and leave.”

 

“Chill, man, you can stick around for coffee if you want.” Nursey pushes himself out bed. “I’ll get a cup going.” 

 

“Uh, thanks, that’d be cool.” Dex follows Nursey into the kitchen, grateful for the caffeine. Does he bring up last night? It was definitely the best hookup of his life, but it could’ve just been a normal Friday for Nursey. 

 

The two stand there awkwardly, both in various states of undress, waiting for the coffee to brew. Dex curses the amount of time it takes a Keurig to heat up. On the counter, he sees a copy of the paper with the feature of “Bitty’s Bakery.” 

 

“Nice article.”

 

“What?”

 

“Uh,” Dex tries again, rubbing the back of his neck, “the article on the Bakery. It was good, I liked it.”

 

Nursey gives him an easy smile, one that Dex could never give. “Thanks, means a lot. It was one of the most fun assignments I’ve had in a while. Bitty’s pie is next level good.” Nursey closes his eyes, thinking of the pie. When he opens them again, Dex is blushing. “What’s up? You’re all red?”

 

Dex closes his eyes, summons up his courage, and surges forward to kiss Nursey again. The two stumble back to the bedroom, the Keurig beeping in the distance. 

 

_X_

 

The two continue like that for some time, Dex always arguing with Nursey, trying to rile him up. It’s not even a sexual thing, he just likes to see Nursey lose his chill. If he particularly likes to see Nursey lose his chill in bed, well, that’s not his fault. Actually, maybe it is. Whatever. 

 

They still see each other on the regular. Bitty and Jack love to throw parties for anything. Well, you can’t really call them parties. It’s movie nights with pizza and Bitty’s pie, it’s board games with Chinese take out and Bitty’s pie, it’s ice skating at the rink before heading back to Jack’s apartment for hot cocoa and Bitty’s pie. Obviously Bitty invites Dex and Jack invites Nursey to every event. Obviously they always say yes. How can they turn down Bitty’s pie? (They won’t admit but they also hope to see the other at the events. If they hook up after every single one, that’s nobody’s business but theirs.) 

 

This arrangement works them. For a while, anyway. 

 

“Hey, Dex, I gotta talk to you,” Nursey says at one of Bitty and Jack’s game nights. 

 

“Okay?”

 

“I know, uh, we usually hang out after these things, but we can’t tonight?”  


Dex blinks at this. “We can’t?”

 

“No, I’ve uh, I’ve got a date tomorrow and I feel like it would be weird to, you know…” 

 

“Right, right, well have fun, I guess,” Dex says angrily, immediately walking away from Nursey towards the bar. Nursey watches as he pours himself another “mixed” drink, this time 90% alcohol, 10% mixer. Dex makes a face as he drinks it (he made it a LOT stronger than he usually does), and Nursey finally turns away, heading over to where Lardo is destroying everyone at Pictionary. 

 

Dex, meanwhile, is having a full blown crisis, half because Nursey is going out with someone else, half because it’s bothering Dex that he is. _Why does it bother you? It’s not like YOU’RE dating him, right? We tried that and it didn’t work and now you’re moved on and just enjoying the casual sex._ Dex takes another sip of his drink. _Or maybe not so casual sex. But that’s just because he’s gorgeous, you don’t even like his personality what are you thinking?_

 

A supercut of morning afters flash through Dex’s mind. The first one, awkward as hell. The second, still awkward but less. The third one, when they realized that this was going to keep happening and embraced it. The tenth one, when they went out for breakfast together. The thirteenth one, when Dex finally memorized Nursey’s breakfast and coffee order. The eighteenth one, when Nursey spilled hot coffee over the both of them. The most recent one, just a few days ago, where Dex had woken up tangled with Nursey. He had never felt more content than he had in those minutes of morning haze, not fully awake yet. _Fuck. Do I like Nursey?_

 

_X_

 

Nursey kinda regretted not telling Dex to come over later that night while he was in the shower. He used to the two of them cramming in there at this point. But he knew it was for the best. If Dex came home with him tonight, and woke up with him tomorrow, there’d be no way he could focus on… _Fuck, what was her name? Whatever, I’m sure I’ll remember in the morning._

 

_(_ He did not remember it in the morning, but he was smart enough to have put her name in his contacts when they first messaged. It was Sarah.) 

 

Sarah was a perfectly nice girl. She clearly put effort into this date: her hair was in an updo that looked simple, but Nursey knew probably took at least thirty minutes; her makeup looked flawless, from her cat eyes to her red lipstick; her heels could not have been comfortable, especially when they walked around after grabbing dinner. Despite this, Nursey really couldn’t get into her. Her hair wasn’t red enough, her eyes weren’t gold enough, her ears weren’t big enough. _Wait, what? Red hair, gold eyes, big ears? The fuck? Am I thinking of Dex?_

 

“Sarah, stop, I’m sorry,” Nursey interrupts, cutting off her story about how she once ate an entire large pizza by herself on a dare. 

 

She gives him a weird look. “Is everything okay?”

 

“Not really. You’re a really nice girl, but I can’t do this. Turns out I’m pretty hung up on someone right now, and it’s really not fair to either of us to act like this is gonna work out. I’ll walk you back to your car?”

 

Sarah looks shocked, and sniffles a little. “You go. I’m gonna go get some ice cream.” With that she turns away, walking quickly towards the ice cream parlor across the street. Nursey can’t help but check her out as she walks away. Normally she’d be the type of girl he couldn’t wait to get his hands on, but of course all her can fucking think about is waking up next to William Poindexter. His thoughts whirl the whole walk back to his place. He thinks about texting Dex to come over, but he knows it’s better if he doesn’t. Besides, tomorrow is Sunday morning, and he always goes into Bitty’s Bakery on Sunday mornings for pie (usually because Dex is able to give him a ride since he’s going there anyway. Dex always makes sure to drop Nursey off a few blocks over so no one will suspect that the two of them came in together). 

 

_X_

 

Nursey’s the only customer in the bakery. He may have arrived ten minutes before opening, banging on the door until Chowder came to the front to let him in. Apparently Dex wasn’t in yet. Nursey took a seat at a table near the back, waiting for Dex to walk in. Nursey had been up all night thinking about this moment. He was going to ask out William Poindexter, again. He was going to confess that he actually likes that they don’t agree on anything, that he likes going to sleep with him, that he likes waking up with him even more. He was going to confess that he’s fallen so hard, that he doesn’t think he can do casual anymore. 

 

Nursey mentally ran through his speech, practicing hand gestures and facial expressions. He wanted this moment to be perfect. He ran through it twice before Dex finally came rushing in through the doors. “Hey guys, sorry I’m later than usual, I couldn’t sleep last night to save my life, and my coffee was super shitty today, and,” he stops, noticing Nursey. “And Nursey is here? How’d you get in?” 

 

“Uh, Chowder let me in. I kept knocking on the door until he finally came to the front door.” 

 

“I see. Well, enjoy your pie.” Dex moves to the back, hopping up on the counter next to the sink, waiting for his day to start. 

 

_Fuck_ , Nursey thinks, _okay we can do this_. He heads towards Dex. Chowder gives him a weird look, but doesn’t make a move to stop him. Leaning forward, Nursey whispers, “hey I need to talk to you.” 

 

Dex looks up from his phone. “What?”

 

This was already going so much worse than Nursey envisioned. “Can we, uh, can we go outside?”

 

“Sure? Chowder, I’m gonna head out back for a minute! Be right back.” Dex hops down from the counter, and points to the door. “After you.” 

 

Nursey’s hands start to shake as he walks to the door. _Why is Dex acting so weird today?_

 

“So what did you wanna talk about? How great your date went last night?” Is it Nursey, or does Dex sounds almost bitter? (Dex is totally bitter.)

 

“I actually wanted to talk about how horrible it went. See, I spent the whole time with Sarah thinking about a guy with red hair and big ass ears that should be ugly but I actually find cute.” Well, that was totally off script. Dex always seemed to rile Nursey up, make him lose all his chill, and today was no exception. 

 

Dex flushes, cheeks matching his hair. They stand there for ten seconds of awkward silence, before Nursey finally gives up. “Okay, well, I can’t do the casual thing anymore. Have a good shift, I guess.” 

 

“Wait,” Dex blurts. 

 

Nursey sighs, defeated. “What?” 

 

Dex takes a few steps closer to Nursey. “I don’t wanna do a casual thing anymore either.” 

 

“I get it, you’re weirded out by my crush, I’m going, okay?”

 

“No, you fucking idiot! What I’m trying to say is…” Instead of completing the thought with words, Dex pushes forward to kiss Nursey. His angle is way off, and he ends up hitting Nursey’s chin instead of his mouth, but Nursey responds quickly, fixing the angle. The two stand there, lost in each other. 

 

“Dex are you bac- OH! Sorry,” Chowder squeaks out, slamming the door shut. 

 

Nursey laughs. “I think we just traumatized that poor boy.”

 

“Worth it, though.”

 

“Definitely worth it.” 

 

“So I’ve clearly gotta head in there, but… tonight? Dinner? I’ll pick you up at seven?”

 

“You better look nice or I’m not going with you.” 

 

“You’re such a fucking liar.” 

 

Nursey laughs. “I’m such a fucking liar. See you at seven, babe.” Dex blushes even harder at the nickname. Nursey can’t resist, leaning back in for one last kiss. “Have a good shift. See you tonight.” 

 

Dex grins. “See you tonight.” 

 

As he heads back inside, Nursey watches dumbly. He can hear Chowder yell “I want ALL of the deets, Dex, don’t even THINK about holding out on me” as Dex opens the door. Dex gives Nursey one last smile before heading in. 

 

_X_

 

They still rile each other up on the date, but any heat is lost to the dumb smiles they keep shooting each other. The manager at the restaurant is shocked that the same couple she threw out only a few months ago is making heart eyes at each other. Whatever, one less problem for her to deal with. 


End file.
